2005: Year of the Gun QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU






2005: Year of the Gun
Shooting victims (pdf) |
Shooting statistics (pdf)
Police vow justice after Yonge St. shooting (Dec. 29)
Map of 2005 Homicides

Related links
Gallery of photos
Memorial stirs memories (Jan. 6)
Seized gun (Dec. 30)
Jane Creba remembered (Dec. 29)
Yonge-Dundas notorious (Dec. 29)
Youth speak out (Dec. 29)
DiManno: City has changed (Dec. 28)
Rap DVD connection (Dec. 28)
GTA homicides map (pdf)
Anti-gang powers expanded
Ontario pledges $51M for high-security courts, more police, prosecution
teams
Jan. 6, 2006. 01:53 AM
KERRY GILLESPIE
QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU
Ontario's government has announced a fundamental shift in the way it
plans to bring to justice the worst culprits responsible for gun
violence.


The government will create three high-security courts to house the
trials, and three judges will be appointed to deal with gang cases -
often the most challenging prosecutions because of intimidation and the
difficulty in gathering evidence.


Acknowledging that the provincial legal system has to adapt to the
growing street violence, Premier Dalton McGuinty also yesterday
announced that 10 prosecution lawyers will work under the same roof as
the police to better secure convictions.


After a bloody year of 52 gun murders in Toronto, and growing criticism
that Ontario's legal system allows too many offenders to go free to
commit further crime, the government responded yesterday with a $51
million package.


Senior government sources say the announcement is the culmination of
work begun toward the end of last year, before the Dec. 26 shooting on
Yonge St. that claimed the life of 15-year-old Jane Creba and wounded
six others.


"We owe it to all the families who have lost loved ones to do all that
we can to help police and prosecutors get criminals with guns off the
street and to do all we can to prevent kids from making the wrong
choices in the future," McGuinty said yesterday.


The Ontario Crown Attorneys' Association said the hiring of 31 new
Crown attorneys, combined with the hiring of another 32 for Toronto
that had been announced previously, would prove effective in fighting
crime in Ontario.


"The premier and the attorney general have recognized the profound
effect that recent gang-related arrests made by the Toronto Police
Service have had on the offices of the Crown attorney in Scarborough,
Etobicoke and North York," said James Chaffe, president of the
association that represents the over 810 frontline prosecutors.


"The workload has become overwhelming.


"This marks the first time that an Ontario premier has formally and
publicly recognized the need to add resources to all parts of the
criminal justice system to effectively deliver public safety."


McGuinty has long faced pressure to speed up delivery on his election
promise to put 1,000 new officers on the street but he has always said
the government didn't have the money.


The new officers will be patrolling Ontario neighbourhoods by the end
of 2006 instead of 2007, McGuinty said. That will cost an extra $14
million.


"On an ongoing basis a government has to reassess its priorities,"
McGuinty said. "It became perfectly evident for us that this is
becoming a higher priority for the people of Ontario."


The package announced yesterday includes:

* $5 million for the Toronto police for three rapid-response teams of
18 officers each to target guns and gangs, and to install security
cameras at high-risk locations.

* $14 million to speed up, by a year, the hiring of 1,000 new police
officers in Ontario. By the fall, Toronto is expected to have up to 151
new officers.

* $4.7 million for three dedicated major crimes courts for trials
involving large, complex cases.

* $26.5 million for the guns and gangs task force. The funding will
cover a new operations centre; 31 new Crown attorneys dedicated to
prosecuting "gun-wielding criminals," with 10 working directly with
Toronto police; 12 new victim services staff to support victims of gun
crimes, and another 15 officers to expand the OPP's Provincial Weapons
Enforcement Unit.


In Toronto, the effect of the $5 million to combat guns and gangs will
be felt immediately, said Police Chief Bill Blair.


"Within the next few days," more officers will be on the streets and
devoted to tackling gangs, Blair said.


Blair also said he expects to announce a comprehensive anti-violence
intervention strategy next week.


Progressive Conservative and New Democrat critics questioned why
McGuinty waited so long to do anything.


"If we would have had more police officers on the street earlier in
this mandate it may have saved lives," said Tory MPP and public safety
critic Garfield Dunlop.


New Democrat MPP Michael Prue questioned why McGuinty has still taken
no action on the "root causes" of crime, such as lack of opportunity
for young people growing up in public housing.


"That's where he has to dig his head out of the sand," Prue said.


Though there was nothing in yesterday's announcement for crime
prevention or community development, McGuinty acknowledged the need for
it.


"More needs to be done to give our young people positive alternatives
to gangs and we will have more to say on prevention in the weeks and
months to come," McGuinty said.


That's something Mayor David Miller is waiting for.


"I'm pleased with the timely and important investment in policing and
the court system," he said in a statement yesterday.


"I look forward to working with the province on future announcements
with respect to making further investments in crucial social programs
for Toronto's most vulnerable neighbourhoods to help prevent young
people from turning to a life of crime."


The decision to build or design specific courthouses for one-off or
high-profile complex trials has been tried in Edmonton, Montreal and
Winnipeg.


In Edmonton, a drug conspiracy case was heard in the basement of a
courthouse. The proceedings lasted four years and cost an estimated $20
million in fees for defence lawyers alone. The case was never completed
after the judge threw the case out.


And in 1999, the Manitoba government ordered the construction of a
high-security courthouse to handle the trial of members of the Warriors
street gang in what was supposed to be the first test of the federal
anti-gang law. The Winnipeg courthouse was never used after plea
bargains were reached.


with files from Rob Ferguson and wire services

.